The terrorism threat is a manufactured crisis useful for justifying war and curtailing liberties.

Evidence

In 2009, the State Department reported that the number of Americans killed that year around the world due to terrorism was a grand total of nine. Fourteen people were injured, and four were kidnapped. To put those numbers in perspective, the Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 4,340 deaths due to workplace events or exposure in 2009.14 Deaths from car accidents numbered 30,797.15 Yet no one declared war on corporations or auto manufacturers. What’s more, a State Department terrorism report released in April 2009 states that “al-Qaeda … and associated networks continued to lose ground, both structurally and in the court of world public opinion.” Nevertheless, the report asserted that these organizations “remained the greatest terrorist threat to the United States and its partners.” All this reveals not only the disconnect between rhetoric and reality but also the mechanics involved in mobilizing a politics of fear. It is worth emphasizing that the threat from terrorism is a manufactured crisis, one that is useful to justify war and continued violations of civil liberties domestically. The green scare is just as useful today as the red scare was during the Cold War. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 508

Categorization

• SEED: The green scare/red scare parallel plus the 9-deaths statistic make a strong essay hook against manufactured panic.
• XREF: Echoes the Cold War red scare analysis; connects to Kumar’s thesis linking domestic fear to empire. — connects to: A government can manufacture crisis to construct its own people as enemy — , The Braided Reading EPUB: 5-Year…, 111; Manufactured terrorist threats serve governance by keeping citizens fearful and quiescent; War against terrorism is itself a form of terrorism. (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• The War on Terror racialized Muslim bodies to justify their surveillance #corroborates (0.80) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 29
• Terrorism fear uniquely suits political manipulation because it resists quick fixes #expands (0.70)
• Clash of civilizations framing located terrorism’s cause within Islam itself #expands (0.65) — Green, Todd H, The Fear of Islam_ An Introduction to…, 266
• Terrorism aims to provoke state repression that radicalizes the population. #complicates (0.60)
• Liberal universalism is reasserted as defense against Islamic terrorism. #expands (0.60)